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Independent national quarterly established to express Mormon culture and examine the relevance of religion to secular life. It is edited by Mormons who wish to bring their faith into dialogue with human experience as a whole and to foster artistic and scholarly achievement based on their cultural heritage. The journal encourages a variety of viewpoints; although every effort is made to insure accurate scholarship and responsible judgment, the views expressed are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Mormon Church or of the editors.

ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904
D. Michael Quinn
01 n 24 September 1890, President Wilford Woodruff issued his famous Manifesto which stated in part, "... and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during the period [since June 1889] been solemnized in our temples or in any other place in the Territory" and concluded, "And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land." * The Church-owned Deseret Evening News editorialized on 30 September: "Anyone who calls the language of President Woodruff's declaration 'indefinite' must be either exceedingly dense or determined to find fault. It is so definite that its meaning cannot be mistaken by any one who understands simple English." On 3 October it added, "Nothing could be more direct and unambiguous than the language of President Woodruff, nor could anything be more authoritative." 2 A few days after this last editorial, the Church authorities presented this "unambiguous" document for a sustaining vote of the general conference. Yet during the next thirteen and a half years, members of the First Presidency individually or as a unit published twenty-four denials that any new plural marriages were being performed.3 The climax of that series of little
D. MICHAEL QUINN is professor of American History at Brigham Young University.
1 The most convenient source for this document is any LDS edition of the Doctrine and Covenants published since 1908 as Official Declaration and in the 1981 edition as Official Declaration-1.
2 Deseret Evening News, editorials for 30 Sept. and 3 Oct. 1890.
3 James R. Clark, ed., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964-75) 3: 207, 219, 230-231; Deseret Evening News, 7 April, 20 Oct., 29 Oct., 7 Nov. 1891; 29 Dec. 1898, p. 1; 20 May 1899, p. 10; 3 June 1899, p. 10; 30 Dec. 1899, p. 16; 8 Jan. 1900, p. 1; 3 Dec. 1902, 26 Feb. 1903, p. 1; 12 March 1903, 29 April 1903; Salt Lake Times, 23 June 1891, p. 1; Juvenile Instructor 26 (1 Nov. 1891) : 670, 26 (15 Nov. 1891) : 697; Salt Lake Tribune, 9 May 1895, p. 8; Utah Independent, 3 March 1898, p. 1; New York Herald, 15 Sept. 1898 (quoted in